A general internist, Doriane Miller, MD, has been providing care to under-served minority populations for more than 30 years. In addition to her role as a primary care physician, she has a special interest in behavioral health.Under her leadership, physicians, educators, and community members work to improve population health outcomes for residents on the South Side of Chicago through community-engaged research, demonstration and service models.

Dr. Miller’s research focuses on the intersection of health disparities and race. She has served as the project director for several studies designed to augment care by promoting collaboration among physicians, patients and families. Dr. Miller’s work in the area of improving asthma outcomes through school and community interventions was noted by the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology with a 2006 Special Recognition Award.

Prior to joining the University of Chicago in January 2009, Dr. Miller served as national program director of New Health Partnerships, a demonstration project funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation on collaborative self-management support.

Robert, an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology and Member of the Neuroscience Institute, hails from Stockton, CA. He earned his undergraduate degree in Cybernetics at UCLA and completed his Ph.D. at Yale University as a Ford Fellow. Following this, Robert finished his postdoctoral program at Caltech in 2016 and subsequently joined the UChicago faculty in 2017. He leads a diverse lab focusing on understanding nervous system development, specifically examining neural circuit assembly and plasticity during neuron degeneration. His NIH- and NSF-funded research, along with his colleagues’, has identified molecules guiding neuron recognition and mechanisms enabling neuronal adaptation to neighboring neuron death.

Throughout his career, Robert has championed inclusivity and access to STEM. He initiated mentorship programs during his graduate studies at Yale and participated in outreach efforts at Caltech. At UChicago, he expanded outreach efforts, co-developing NEETO and DARN in 2020 to engage Chicago high school students and Puerto Rican undergraduates in STEM. Collaborating with colleagues like Drs. Nancy Schwartz, Peggy Mason, Victoria Flores, Ellie Heckscher, Vicky Prince, Paschalis Kratsios, and others, Robert enhances research opportunities for UChicago undergraduates through programs like NESSTP and DNUFO. He contributes to various committees focusing on graduate student and faculty recruitment, undergraduate curriculum, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the BSD. Robert with work the team to develop and implement strategies to broaden DEI infrastructure and cultivate an inclusive, welcoming community.

Tobias is a senior staff leader in the Biological Sciences Division (BSD). He is a thought leader who designs interventions that enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion within the division. Tobias’s portfolio includes creating and facilitating “thinkshops,” which are hour-long programs that use social science research to combat implicit bias, promote LGBTQ inclusive spaces, and build skills to confront microaggressions. Tobias works with faculty and resident/trainee recruitment, resource groups, the division’s pipeline programs, and with the office’s outreach and marketing. He most recently deployed the Inclusion Menu, which features a series of “conversation starters” that bring diversity & inclusion related dialogues directly to academic departments and lab groups. Since beginning his tenure in the Biological Sciences Division, Tobias founded the University Resource Group Black Men Engaged, which brings together Black men from across campus for the purpose of mentoring, professional development, and service in and with the South Side community. He is also a consultant for the University of Chicago Center for HIV Elimination and recently served as chair for Howard Brown Health’s South Side Community Advisory Board. Tobias holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a master’s degree in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies from Georgia State University, and PhD from the School of Cultural and Critical Studies at Bowling Green State University. Prior to his work in the Biological Sciences, Tobias was director of the LGBTQ Student Life Office at University of Chicago’s Center for Identity + Inclusion.

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Tobias grew up on the East Coast. He loves shoes and considers himself an avid sneaker collector. He also enjoys staying fit and riding his bike along Chicago’s beautiful lakefront.

Contact Tobias Spears at: tspears1@bsd.uchicago.edu

Christina comes to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion by way of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics PhD program here at the University of Chicago. Before coming to Chicago for graduate school, she studied biochemistry at Stony Brook University in her home state of New York. During her time as a graduate student Christina led numerous diversity and inclusion organizations such as GRIT, SACNAS and the BSD Diversity Committee. Now as an administrator working along side students, staff, and faculty, Christina seeks to bridge the gaps in understanding and bring the community together using our shared goals and values. Her primary responsibilities include: supporting the development of a new faculty hiring approach to help diversify the biological sciences departments as well as working closely with the office of graduate and postdoctoral affairs to support student recruitment and engagement.

Contact Christina Roman at: chroman@bsd.uchicago.edu

Shanila Parveen is a second-year Master of Public Policy student at the University of Chicago and the Inclusive Excellence Intern at the Biological Sciences Division’s Diversity and Inclusion Office. Originally from Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Shanila has worked extensively with communities in rural and resource-constrained regions to ensure access to quality education. Her experience includes supporting out-of-school children in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malawi through an EdTech initiative, and co-founding an NGO focused on community-led school improvement in the mountainous areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. In her current role, she brings a global, equity-centered perspective to DEI strategy through research, data analysis, and inclusive program development. Shanila is passionate about using education as a tool for sustainable development and social change—for every individual, regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status